UK And Germany Will Face Threats Together, Says Burnham In Berlin
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK and Germany will face threats together, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said as he reaffirmed a series of defence and security partnerships
These two paragraphs add some more detail.
On his first official European trip, apart from visits to Ukraine, Burnham met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and was greeted with military honours in Berlin.
Speaking to reporters at the German capital’s Federal Chancellery, the prime minister said both countries were facing hybrid attacks “on a regular basis” and “it makes sense” to take them on together.
I am surprised that the article doesn’t mention energy, as it is a problem for both Germany and the UK.
Germany’s problems include.
- They are short of both electricity and gas.
- They produce about a fifth of their electricity from coal.
- They have weaned themselves off Russian gas and nuclear power.
- They have poor electricity storage.
Their strengths include.
- Siemens is the second-largest European wind turbine manufacturer.
- 29 wind farms in the UK, have been built around Siemens wind turbines.
- RWE is a major developer of wind farms.
- RWE is the largest generator of electricity in the UK.
- RWE own or part-own thirteen wind farms in the UK.
Germany also has good plans to solve their problems.
- AquaVentus is a series of pipes and wires to bring green electricity and hydrogen from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Aberdeen and Humberside in the UK. to Wilhelmshaven in North-West Germany.
- H2ercules is a plan to deliver hydrogen around Germany to power industry.
In New Study Shows How North Sea Offshore Wind Can Yield More While Costing Less, I found this “It appears from the text in this must read report, that the Germans might develop as much as 20 GW in neighbouring countries.”
The UK’s problems include.
- High electricity and gas prices.
- Not enough electricity storage.
- Poor connections to the grid.
Our strengths include.
- A large amount of solar and wind farms are being developed.
- We3 will generate more electricity than we need.
- We shall be able to send electricity and hydrogen to Germany using the AquaVentus system.
- We are developing at least three 2 GW/30 Gwh pumped storage systems in Scotland to store electricity and back up AquaVentus.
- Rough and Aldbrough are gas storage reservoirs on Humberside, that could be converted to hydrogen, so we could keep Germany supplied with hydrogen.
- HiiROC is affordable hydrogen production technology being developed in Hull, which is five times more efficient, than traditional methods.
Centrica is backing HiiROC and is developing a stable of British ideas.
I believe that there are joint actions that the UK and Germany can take to both their own advantages.
AquaVentus And Energy Storage
AquaVentus, the pumped storage hydro in Scotland and the hydrogen storage on Humberside should make a big difference to the cost of UK energy, as instead of paying wind farm operators to turn off their wind farms, the electricity be handled in one of these ways.
- It can be sent to Germany on AquaVentus as electricity.
- Electricity can be stored in the pumped storage hydro in the Highlands.
- It can be used to create hydrogen which can be stored.
- Hydrogen can be sent to Germany on Aquaventus.
- Electricity waste is minimised, which saves the UK money.
- Germany gets a more reliable supply of hydrogen.
The UK should get a cash flow from Germany for the energy, that is delivered.
Find A Way To Keep Rough Operational
If we keep Rough operational, then.
- It can usefully act as hydrogen storage for the Germans, with a connection to AquaVentus.
- We can also use it as a store for hydrogen created from excess energy, when we have too much.
- It can also supply hydrogen to companies like INEOS on Humberside.
- Hydrogen could also be exported from the Port of Hull in small coastal tankers
- Companies that need a lot of zero-carbon energy could move to Humberside.
I suspect John Healey will make an announcement in the 2026 Budget.
